A federal court in New York recently unsealed a superseding indictment related to Najibullah Zazi. Zazi is accused of plotting an attack against the New York subway system, though he was arrested in September before its execution. The superseding indictment names Adnan Shukrijumah as a co-conspirator. Zazi met reportedly with Shukrijumah overseas prior to returning to the U.S. to carry out his attack.
Being Houston-based, among other things, the Baker Institute focuses on current events that have a tie to our region. While prior to now the subway plot conspirators were believed to have no ties to Texas, Shukrijumah may.
In reports dating to 2006, Shukrijumah secretly traveled to the United States prior to September 2001, and Houston was one of the cities he surveilled. According to separate reports, Shukrijumah was aided by former Houston resident Aafia Siddiqui.
Shukrijumah has been of concern for many years, and there currently is a $5 million reward for anyone that can provide information leading to his capture. While living in Florida, he is believed to have had an association with Jose Padilla, who was arrested for his terror plot to blow up a high rise building and/or possibly detonate a radiological device. He also may have been associated with Zacarias Moussaoui, who was charged with conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks. Shukrijumah is the son of Gulshair Muhammad al-Shukrijumah, who testified on behalf of the ‘Blind Sheikh’ Omar Abel-Rahman and Rodney Hampton-El. Both were convicted for their terrorist activities in the 1993 New York City plots.
Current press reporting indicates Shukrijumah may have multiple teams he has directed, and Zazi’s team is but one. Enough said.
Joan Neuhaus Schaan is the fellow in homeland security and terrorism at the Baker Institute, coordinator of the Texas Security Forum, and serves on the advisory board of the Transborder International Police Association. She has served as the executive director of the Houston-Harris County Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council and on the board of Crime Stoppers of Houston, Inc.